Book Review - Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

Flash Boys - Michael Lewis

You could mistake this book for a high speed chase thriller .. that is how eminently readable it is.

This is the first non-fiction book that I have read continuously. I normally intersperse my non-fiction reading with lots of fiction. I may read a couple of chapters of a non-fiction book and then complete couple of fiction books and come back to the non-fiction book again ! But this book was so compelling - I read it through !!

After a kind of reading slump where I did not seem to have many fiction books that appealed or non-fiction books that I felt like picking up - I suddenly seem to have come across an explosion of book suggestions. From the slow 3 pines mystery series to the arctic splendor in Edie Kiglatuk's books ( I could not believe the Arctic was so teeming with life !! ) I have happily found books that will keep me occupied for some time !! :)

In the early stages of my career I was part of a stock exchange project where the goal was to change  the trading of futures / options from fractions to decimals.  This was the time of mainframes. At that time I did not relate much of what I did ( which was not much ) to the outside world. I just remember being fascinated the day the trades started to happen in decimals. A thrill of its own kind ! :)

Coming back - Flash boys starts off with the secret laying of a straight cable across a tough geographical terrain to give a microsecond advantage to traders willing to pay millions for the split second advantage.

What would the split second advantage mean ?? It would mean knowing in advance which trades would happen before everyone else and the opportunity to buy up shares at a lesser price and then turn around and sell it for more. Huge profits from knowing which trades to buy / sell !! This is front-running and it was legal the way it was being handled by the high speed computerized algorithm based trading in the stock exchanges.

The nano-second allowed one set of traders - to see a clear market view and the others an illusion. It created a class system and the US premise of a free and fair market was only a mirage. And this class difference was caused not by people but by the nano-second !

The high frequency traders who paid for this speed were minting money from providing no value to the general public.  The speeds of computer technology added efficiency in the areas that strengthened the intermediaries to make billions.

The unlikely protagonist of this book - is a former Royal Bank of Canada trader who founds his own exchange (IEX) to outmaneuver the high frequency traders. This journey is chronicled along with the challenges he faces as well as the people he picks up to build a 'fair' stock exchange.

What is ironic in this book are the marks of the scheme - they are not just regular folks - they are other hedge funds and wall street brokers who are also disadvantaged due to dark pools, kick backs, arbitrage advantages !

All in all - a wonderful read !!

Calendar - January 2015 / February 2015

I have been making personal calendars for sometime now. I first ordered one online and cringed at how small the pictures looked. Plus the pictures were cropped and I was annoyed. So the next year I decided rough and ready though it might be - I would make my own !

And so I did. I used excel at first. Rudimentary at best. Since then I have moved on to GIMP. I am no designer / artist but making my yearly personal calendar is an activity I truly enjoy.

This year after finishing my personal calendar - I felt like making monthly calendars from some of my personal nature snaps. So far I have done only two - for January and February.

The original jpgs - are at the dropbox links mentioned below.

Enjoy .... and happy new year 2015 !!!

January 2015   - https://www.dropbox.com/s/d2xn68he7j819tt/1-Jan2015.jpg?dl=0
February 2015 - https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0f76gbwyrjhovf/2-Feb2015.jpg?dl=0

January 2015

February 2015

Random Acts of Kindness .....

In many ways I consider newspaper reading, breaking news, idle gossip ..... corrosive; like slow drips of acid on the human psyche. After sometime no matter how upbeat one is, the constant barrage of negative news is simply too much. Overtly dramatic ? Perhaps .... but being inherently cynical; such reports only cement my belief; that if the human race were to be eradicated then every other species on earth would benefit !!

Almost a non sequitur :) Considering how much my family enjoys road travel - when I casually envisaged being recipient to random kindness I always thought it would be somewhere remote. Like Spiti Valley or Lahaul Valley, near Chandratal or Kunzum Pass; near Tukula in Sikkim or when we bolted through the Chambal valley [ The landscape was so .. so .... beautiful  ] And yet when it happened - it was in my own prosaic corner of the world. Near Mangalore.

After spending the weekend in Mangalore we set out on Sunday. My hubby was worried about the air pressure in the tyres but perhaps b'cos it was Sunday - we did not find any place open for an air check for a long time. The roads were in an appalling condition. So many potholes, I felt like we were playing hopscotch. Anywayz ...when we finally spotted a place - we had the air checked.

So of course - based on Murphy's laws - at the next pothole we got a flat tyre !! After jacking up the car - when we went to get the spare tyre - it had no air. Again .. but of course ! :)

Broad daylight and no specific cause of worry but I was looking towards the road wondering who would respond to a gesture for help. I did not flag anyone and I have no idea of the expression on my face but a SUV full of guys who looked like they were in their early twenties came to us - from the opposite direction. And they asked if we needed help.

After a short talk - they offered to take the tyre to the nearest place, get it filled with air and come back. They insisted my hubby stay back probably b'cos our child and I would be left alone. It was this additional step that disarmed me. It is one thing to help but to be sensitive to other factors ? Not expected. Since obviously we had qualms [ although not voiced ] - two of them also stayed with us.

When the tyre was fixed - during the casual talk, it astonished me when I heard, these guyz had passed us in their SUV and had turned back when they felt something was wrong. Another additional step ......

The beautiful spot where we our tyre went flat !

This post  makes it sound like I have not been at the receiving end of kindness from strangers. I have and some of them life giving. Still ..... they were quite some time back ..... [  And perhaps that is another post - whenever relevant ! ] :)

With a misanthropic bent of mind - is it any wonder , a random act of kindness by complete strangers has left me bemused ?? ! But ... true to form [ yes yes ... true to form; don't be so disbelieving :)  ] - I want to pass it on whenever I get a chance. :)

No one can have it all !!

No one can have it all. No one !

There !!! That is my line in the sand. I am growing increasingly weary of reading that "Women cannot have it all". True. However it misses an essential point. No one can have it all. That is akin to saying one can eat one's cake and have it too. Nope not happening !

1. "Opportunity cost"

This is a concept in economics that expresses the basic relationship between scarcity and choice.

To pick from from Wikipepedia

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as "the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen".

Did a guy choose to take on a bigger role in sales ? It may be that he will have less time with his teenager son.

Did you choose to work after having a baby ? Well that has the associated cost of your kid not having a full time parent. Conversely - did you choose to be a SAHM ? Well perhaps the art world lost some excellent paintings since you decided to hang up your brushes for a while. Hmmm ???

The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently.^[3]

The point is - every step, every choice, every direction taken always always has an opportunity cost. We make what we think is the best decision for that particular set of circumstances with whatever information and limited resources we have at hand.

Trade-offs are a part of life - whether you are a man or woman.


2. Balanced life is a myth.

If one wishes to be good at anything - one needs to invest the required time and energy. The way I see it - choose your important areas and focus on them.

Does this mean - I consider home and work to be on opposite sides of the coin ? No. I prefer to think
that one should aim at achieving a state of dynamic equilibrium. 


3. Dynamic equilibrium

To me this indicates constant motion [ preferably forward !! :) ] and a state where many competing influences are balanced ; over a period of time. It is the totality that counts - not a  a daily accounting of  'perfection' in all areas. All competing forces do not have to be created equal every single day.

It is fine if today you were a better manager and yesterday you did better in the role of a parent.

Having it all

• First - there is no "Having it all". Instead look at being in a state of dynamic equilibrium.

• Second - Choose your idea of what works for you. Prioritize ruthlessly. Refuse to torture yourself with guilt. This includes having crazy standards like

• Home has to be as clean as that of someone else who has 4 live-in servants.
• Cooking skills have to be equivalent to that of a chef who makes her/his living as a top chef.
• Corporate climb has to be the same as that of another man who may not be baking those cupcakes for his child's entire class.
• Children should always approve of you as a parent. [ Seriously ?? ]

• Third - Chill out. Stop wanting to "do-it-all". Delegate. Don't many superiors think they can do a better job than their sub-ordinates ? [ This includes your MIL too ;) ] It doesn't stop them from delegating right ?

• Fourth - Women are needed in the work space - as this Catalyst report clearly indicates. 

Does this mean I don't understand reality ? Of course not - the glass ceiling exists and so do the booth babes. The feeling of helplessness when you are in another city and your child is battling with fever miles away, exists.

However reality also means - house work never ends ! Bias and prejudice exist every where - be it based on gender, culture, country, race etc. Bias also exists when a guy wants to take time off to be with his child - especially if it is for a long duration. :)

Indra Nooyi's mother

I wrote this blog after reading that appalling tale of Indra Nooyi's mother - who asked her daughter to leave her crown outside and get milk at 10 o clock.

To me - she is classic example of a weak person - who could neither get the milk herself, nor could bring herself to ask her son-in-law to bring the milk. She was incapable of appreciating her daughter but chose instead to cut her down to size probably out of small minded jealousy ... showing that we women are sometimes our own worst enemies.

Expectations Inheritance 

I know I am lucky. I have excellent women role models and men who are strong enough that strength in a woman does not scare them. If I come home with a crown - my mom as well as my mother-in-law would be as proud of me - as they would be if their son came home with it. 

At the end of day - I would hope that by choosing not to "Have it all" - we can pass realistic aspirations to both our sons and daughters. It could mean happier homes and not houses that are battle grounds with insane expectations.

It could also mean that when a woman came home - in spite of the mound of dishes in the sink - she can still relax b'cos nobody is holding her up [ including herself ] to impossible standards and someone else may choose to load the dishwasher or simply wash up. Pragmatic wouldn't you say ?

It is the best of the times, It is the worst of the times .....

I think we live in an age that is slowly allowing us women to have the best of both worlds. We can take time off in years and come back to the working world. Or we can continue working through out. Sure we pay a price - but then there is that idea of "Opportunity Cost" all over  again !